


Under Euterpe's Moon

by Hyarrowen



Category: Robot Series - Isaac Asimov
Genre: First Kiss, First Time, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-29
Updated: 2018-04-29
Packaged: 2019-04-29 08:31:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,367
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14468862
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hyarrowen/pseuds/Hyarrowen
Summary: Having solved a mystery on the forest planet of Euterpe, Baley and Daneel have to solve an aspect of their relationship too.





	Under Euterpe's Moon

**Author's Note:**

> A canon divergence in which Elijah and Daneel have become the Galaxy's top consulting detectives.

They had been three days on the vacation planet of Euterpe before they had cracked the case. It was, to Baley's mind, fairly obvious who had committed the murder. Finding the evidence on the ground had been much more difficult. In the rainforest environment, organic evidence vanished quickly, and it had been a full week before he and Daneel Olivaw, summoned from their own planets, had reached Euterpe and begun their investigation. It had taken an Earthman, a product of the Caves of Steel, to suggest that the evidence had been taken underground by one of the planet's burrowing creatures.

So now the case was wrapped up, and tomorrow the ships that would return them to their own worlds would send down landing-craft to take them away, not to meet again until the Spacers next had a case that they could not solve. In the meantime, they had one night left.

One night left _together_ , Baley would gladly have added, if that had indeed been the situation. But it was not. Their little cabin in the luxurious resort where the murder had taken place had two bedrooms. Baley, in bed and alone in his own room, was all too aware of Daneel's presence on the other side of the wall. His own liking for privacy was his undoing. The Euterpeans appeared to have taken into account his preference for sleeping unattended on Solaria and Aurora, and had provided everything to make their famous consulting detectives comfortable.

Baley turned on his mattress. Wonderfully supportive though it was, he was _not_ comfortable. Faint sounds from the forest surrounding their cabin disturbed him - night creatures, small chirping things mostly, though there was a flute-bird somewhere in the distance, and the rustle of tree and fern-like vegetation. It was all rather like sleeping in one of the over-decorated Personals on Aurora.

Except that – he opened a resentful eye and glanced at the small display on the nearest wall - Gemstone, the glorious little satellite of Euterpe, was due to rise very soon.

He might as well see it, thought Elijah grumpily. He'd likely never have the chance again. So he got out of bed, and put on a night-robe over his pyjamas, and opened the sliding door that led out onto the veranda.

He'd come a long way from the time when he could hardly bear to look at an open sky. In any case, the rainforest, growing right round the cabin, and the veranda roof gave him such a sense of enclosure that he was quite comfortable, leaning on the veranda rail and looking out over a dark mass of leaves. The scent of moist earth, of leaves rotting gently on the forest floor, of night-flowers, rose around him. Away to his left, there was a rapidly-increasing radiance that dimmed the stars. Gemstone, invisible as yet, was flying up towards the horizon. And there was the flute-bird again.

The sliding door next to his own opened. Without turning his head, he said, “Daneel,” to the source of his uneasiness.

“Partner Elijah. Are you well?”

“I am indeed. And you, I trust?”

“As you are fully aware, Partner Elijah...”

“Of course I am. I just like to hear it from you. Passing the time of night, you might say.”

“Then I am well, and thank-you for enquiring. Do you wish to be left alone?”

No, never that, not while Daneel was standing, lightly-clad, almost close enough for Baley to feel the warmth of his body, the radiance of Gemstone's rising touching his hair and turning it to dark bronze; not while that handsome head was outlined against the brightening sky. Baley flexed his hands slightly on the veranda rail, and concentrated on the nightscape directly in front of him. He could not think that way. Daneel would have no choice, no choice at all. So his internal debate had run, for their last half-dozen meetings.

“It's moonrise any moment," he said, for the sake of something to say. "I hear it's possible to get tired of it. I can't see how. It's one of the most beautiful things I've seen in all the Galaxy.”

“Does it not make you uneasy, Partner Elijah?”

“A little. But I've come a long way from the Cities, you know that, none better. You were there for most of the journey, after all.”

Gemstone burst up from the western horizon, tiny, fast-moving, coruscating with light. “Ah,” said Baley, watching it fling itself up the night sky. In its white-golden light the taller trees cast faint shadows, and so did the other cabins dotted round about, and the rocky hills beyond. “I'll buy a vid-film of it before we go. But it'll be nothing like the real thing.”

“Then you should enjoy it now, Partner Elijah.”

Baley did so in silence for a few minutes while Gemstone climbed higher, brightening all the time, then asked, “And you? Do you enjoy the sight?”

“It conforms with the parameters associated with the abstract ideal of beauty in my circuits, and thus gives me pleasure to see it.”

“You mean you like it. Well, I'm glad.”

“If you wish to put it that way, yes. I like it.”

“I do.” Baley turned his head to look at Daneel, wondering. It had been six months since their last case. Who knew when they would meet again? Why not, why not, put it to the test, now, here under Euterpe's moon?

“It's beautiful. But so are you, Daneel. There's no-one more beautiful in my eyes.” His hands clenched on the rail.

A pause. Daneel was thinking. “Thank-you, Partner Elijah.”

“I lay myself bare to you and all you can say is _thank-you_?” asked Baley indignantly.

“Partner Elijah, I know that you love me. You said as much to Dr Vasilia, and have proved it many times since by the things you have done and said to me. It is not to be wondered at that you find me beautiful, that being the case.”

Baley, nonplussed, said, “Then perhaps it's time I said it directly. I love you, Daneel.” No need to be afraid of harsh rejection, not with Daneel; he would simply state whether he returned that love or not, and they would continue the conversation with no awkwardness or embarrassment.

“Thank-you. Elijah. I also find you beautiful, and brave, and I return your love, as far as a robot may -” but at this point Baley, who had heard something similar several times before, stepped close to him, pulled his head down, and kissed him on the lips.

Daneel's arms came round him, as they had so often done, and they kissed again. It was not like kissing a human at all. No hint of warm breath. Dry, slick mouth. Baley slipped his hands across Daneel's broad back, gathering him close, and kissed him again.

“Too long,” he muttered at last. “I've waited too long for this.”

“I agree, Elijah. But it has happened at last.”

Baley, half dazed and smiling, looked into his face. Then he sobered. “You know why it's taken so long, though.”

“Of course. First Law. You have struggled with it often.”

“Yes.” Baley bowed his head, squeezed Daneel's upper arms, and shuffled back a step, letting his hands drop down to grasp Daneel's lightly. “I should not have done this.”

There was a short silence between them, though the night-sounds continued somewhere at the edge of hearing, while Gemstone brightened above. Baley tried to drop Daneel's hands, but Daneel did not let go. “Partner Elijah,” he said gently. “This is something I would want, even if it were not for First Law. I can only ask you to trust me when I say this. ”

Trust.

One of the foundation-stones of any loving relationship.

“Yes. I trust you, Daneel. Come inside, then.”

He turned his back on the forest, the bright moon and the flute-birds, pulling Daneel after him into his bedroom, where they kissed again and shed their night-clothes, and took to Baley's bed. And a while later, just before they joined together in that bed, he whispered, “There's no-one in the Galaxy I trust more than you,” and Daneel replied softly, “Thank-you, Elijah. I know that, too.”


End file.
